The present invention is directed to a process for the production of peptides by asymetrical hydrogenation of dehydropeptides in the presence of chiral rhodium complexes.
It is already known to produce peptides by asymmetrical hydrogenation of dehydropeptides of the general formula ##STR2## in which R is a methyl or phenyl group, R' is an alkyl or phenyl group and R" is hydrogen or an alkyl group in the presence of chiral rhodium complexes (Ojima, Tetrahedron Letters, Vol. 21, pages 1239 to 1242 (1980); Onuma, Chemistry Letters, 1980, pages 481 to 482). (The entire disclosure of both the Ojima and Onuma articles are hereby incorporated by reference and relied upon). In all the dehydropeptides employed the prochiral olefinic double bond is in the part of the molecule terminated with an amino group.